Next thing is how to see it.
DON'T LOOK DIRECTLY LOOK AT IT! It will hurt your eyes!
You'll need a darkening lens, that's not polarized.
There's a bunch of cheapo's on Amazon and Ebay.
Buy some for the kids, so they can appreciate it.

To take a photo or vid of it. you need to practice.
To set the stop and exposure speed, which will be VERY FAST!
You can even do it with your smartphone!
A tripod is useful, better than being handheld!

My favorite way to view an eclipse is with a pin-hole projection.
Take a square piece of heavy white paper, put a small clean round hole in the center of it.
That's very improtant!
Hold it over your shoulder, and with another white piece of paper, project the image upon it.
Kids love this way of viewing an eclipse, because they don't have to wear them STUPID glasses, and they get to see everything!

It's going to happen right where I live, about an hour away. I'm going to S.Carolina to enjoy this. It will be my first total eclipse viewing. Got my welders goggles and everything!

I'm headed off to western Kentucky. Use to live there and got friends there too. Just north and south of the center line of the eclipse path, and the longest period of totality.

Taking my camera and smart phone mounted on a tripod, a hand full of them cheapo glasses I got off amazon for the kids, and another cheapo tripod that I'm rigging with a holder for the pin hole projection.

Going out a few days early to scout out a site, but my good friend says he's got one lined up for us. Will have to check it out to make sure we got un-obstructed viewing.

Oh, and taking a couple cases of local micro-brewed beer too.
Gotta share the wealth!

Once in a lifetime event? Hmmmm I've seen two one in 1999 and one in 1986

__________________
Ok then, here's the dumb fuck interpretation/translation of what I very clearly articulated in my previous eloquent comment:
Go to school, not church.
Duh. Or are you advocating some kind of fairy tale festival holy war of the dumb cunts? ~L8rm8e

Once in a lifetime event? Hmmmm I've seen two one in 1999 and one in 1986

It's gonna be one of the longest types in the history of solar eclipses.
Last one was in 1918.
IIRC, not another one this long here in about 150 years.

'The path of a total eclipse can cross any part of Earth. Even the North and South Poles get a total eclipse sooner or later. Just one total eclipse occurs each year or two. Since each total eclipse is only visible from a very narrow track, it is rare to see one from any single location. You'd have to wait an average of 375 years to see two total eclipses from one place. Of course, the interval between seeing two eclipses from one particular place can be shorter or longer. For instance, the last total eclipse visible from Princeton, NJ was in 1478 and the next is in 2079. That's an interval of 601 years. However, the following total eclipse from Princeton is in 2144, after a period of only 65 years.'

I wasn't in the same places on both accounts no, first one I was overseas the last one I was in London

__________________
Ok then, here's the dumb fuck interpretation/translation of what I very clearly articulated in my previous eloquent comment:
Go to school, not church.
Duh. Or are you advocating some kind of fairy tale festival holy war of the dumb cunts? ~L8rm8e

As a kid I would poke the telescope out of a tent and shine the eye piece onto an easel a couple feet away.
I would get a large very clear and detailed image of the sun.
Do not try to focus a pinpoint on the paper.
I could then trace it and the flares and sunspots for school projects.

I wasn't in the same places on both accounts no, first one I was overseas the last one I was in London

I've see 6 solar eclipses, in 3 different continents.
Did some traveling to see them, but it's my major hobby.
This is a big one for North America.
I've been looking around on the net, and virtually every city and town along the path of totality have something going on. There are even cruises off the coasts, but that's fairly common now days.
I encourage everyone to get out and see this one!
Just remember to use a dark filter to protect your eyes.

Here's NASA's maps of the path across the country and the individual states.